Detention and correction facilities house inmates confined to these facilities by our penal system. Existing correction and detention facilities were constructed before the present building codes which require fire rated buildings. Many local, state and federal correctional detention facilities must now meet rigorous building codes requiring the facility to meet certain fire ratings, such as one or two hour fire rated walls. (ASTM Std. E-119 and UBC std. 43-1). New structural systems are required to build fire rated correction and detention facilities to satisfy these building codes.
One system for constructing fire rated walls, floors and ceiling for correctional institutions is a poured in place concrete center section, some of which are covered by steel plates attached to the outside of the concrete core. Such a construction system is cumbersome to construct and does not feature the advantages of steel construction, which are durability, impermeability, ease of cleaning and total preclusion of odors. The metal connectors fastening the steel plates to the concrete core are exposed to the inmates, thereby creating a security risk.
The fire rated structural system of the present invention provides for the construction of a secure facility with fire rated walls to meet present building codes and weighs approximately one-third of poured in place concrete.